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Ohio News |
Article published Tuesday, June 18, 2002
Watchdog applauds officials’
disclosure
But some progress needed,
group says
By JIM PROVANCE
BLADE
COLUMBUS BUREAU
COLUMBUS - Most statewide officials and
legislators received high marks yesterday from a government watchdog
group for disclosing who was filling their campaign war chests last
year.
But voters still do not know all they need to know
behind $168,204 in campaign contributions in 2001, a nonelection
year, according to the nonprofit Ohio Citizen Action.
"That’s
still a chunk of change, if you think about it," said Catherine
Turcer, the group’s campaign-reform director.
The officials,
most of them on the ballot this year, did a better job generally of
meeting the basic requirements of disclosure under Ohio law,
identifying the name, address, and employer behind contributions of
$100 or more. In all, 97 percent of the contributions met the
minimum requirements.
But Ms. Turcer called for candidates to
go a step further in some cases and not to settle for generic terms
such as "lobbyist," "consultant," or "self-employed" without at last
providing the names of their businesses. "Voters in Ohio need to
have better information," she said. "They need to be able to track
the policy interests, the economic interests behind the
contributions."
Just five legislators received grades of "D"
or "F." Those getting a "D" fully disclosed less than 70 percent of
the money they raised. Those with an "F" fully disclosed less than
60 percent.The only northwest Ohio lawmaker on this list was state
Sen. Jim Jordan (R., Urbana), whose campaign treasurer fully
identified contributors 69.6 percent of the time.
Mr. Jordan
pointed out that his campaign received "A’s" previously and
attributed the fall to not fully identifying the specific employer
of contributors as opposed to listing occupations. "I don’t know
that it’s a huge, vitally important public policy issue, but it is
the law and we will try to comply," he said.
Meanwhile, Gov.
Bob Taft plans to join Secretary of State J. Kenneth Blackwell today
in presenting proposed legislation to plug a loophole in
campaign-finance law allowing unlimited, secret donations to
political party operating funds.
He voiced support for such a
law two years ago after it was revealed he had raised money for the
Ohio Republican Party’s operating fund as part of Team Ohio. The
effort offered access to the governor at receptions or Ohio State
University football games in exchange for contributions of at least
$25,000. He will go a step further by calling for full disclosure of
donors to groups that target candidates in their ads under the guise
of constitutionally protected issue advocacy.
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